Frame for polymeric pistol with metal rail

ABSTRACT

The present invention is to provide a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, capable of securing the structural soundness of firearms to secure an accuracy rate of bullet even in high-temperature environments, preventing the high-temperature heat generated in a barrel or the like from being transferred, as it is, to a handle of the frame, and disassembling and replacing components as occasion demands. 
     According to an aspect of the invention to achieve the object described above, there is provided a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, a pistol having a slide, the frame including: a lower frame made of a reinforced plastic material and having a handle formed at its lower portion; and an upper frame assembled onto the lower frame while being assembled to the slide and made of a metal material, wherein: the lower frame includes a first support positioned in front of the handle to support a bottom surface of the upper frame, and a second support positioned behind the handle to support a rear surface of the upper frame; and the upper frame is assembled to the lower frame such that the bottom and rear surfaces of the upper frame are supported by the first and second supports, and the upper frame has a front rail and a rear rail that are integrally formed on its upper surface, the front and rear rails being assembled to the slide.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of the Korean Patent Application NO10-2017-0154824 filed on Nov. 20, 2017 in Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a frame for a polymeric pistol with ametal rail, and more particularly, to a frame for a polymeric pistolwith a metal rail, which includes a rail made of metal to couple theframe made of a reinforced plastic material to a slide.

Description of the Related Art

In a glock pistol, the components thereof such as a slide, a lower gunbody, and a magazine etc., which are not directly associated with thedischarge of bullets, are made of light reinforced synthetic plasticmaterials having a stiffness similar to a metal, so that it reduces theweight of the pistol and is easy to carry.

However, if the slide and the lower gun body etc. made of the reinforcedsynthetic plastic materials are kept at a higher temperature for a longtime, as though it has an excellent stiffness plastic, the shapesthereof are deformed more or less and gaps between the assembledinternal parts are generated.

In particular, the thermal deformation of the lower gun body made ofplastic materials causes malfunctions and functionality failures betweenvarious components assembled to the lower gun body. As a result, it candeteriorate the shooting accuracy of the gun and the operationreliability thereof. Also, since it can cause the shooting accident etc.owing to the unnecessary gaps between the components, the safety ofusing the gun can be also deteriorated.

Therefore, recently, a metal part is added to the lower gun body of theglock pistol or it suggests a method of replacing the plastic lower gunbody with the metal one.

As the conventional techniques for the above purposes, U.S. Pat. No.6,260,301 (Title: Pistol whose housing is composed of plastic) and USpublication No. 2009-0071053 (Title: Modular firearm system withinterchangeable grip and slide assemblies and an improved firing pinsafety for firearm) have been disclosed. In the pistol (firearm)disclosed in the patent literatures, a metallic part (hereinafter calledas ‘metal insert’) is attachably and deattachably inserted into thelower gun body made of the plastic materials and the trigger and thesafety pin etc. are assembled by the metal insert. As a result, it ischaracterized in that the assembling status of the trigger and thesafety pin etc. can be maintained under high temperature.

However, since the metal insert disclosed in the above patentliteratures is manufactured by pressing and bending a thin sheet, it isnot easy to manufacture the component having a fine machining toleranceowing to the manufacturing characteristic thereof. Therefore, since thegap between the lower gun body (gun body frame) and the metal insert isgenerated, the vibration and the noise are generated during firing ofthe bullet, thereby deteriorating the shooting accuracy thereof due tothe vibration.

In addition, in order to solve the above problem, there is a method inthat the entire lower gun body is made of the metallic materials. Inthis case, when the bullets are continuously fired or it is used in ahigh temperature environment, since a high-temperature heat istransmitted to the gripping portion for gripping the pistol by means ofthe user, it has trouble in using the pistol.

Accordingly, it requires the development of the frame for a polymericpistol, capable of securing the structural soundness of firearms tosecure an accuracy rate of bullet even in high-temperature environments,maintaining performance thereof for a long time without the deformationof the components, 0preventing the high-temperature heat generated in abarrel or the like from being transferred, as it is, to a handle of theframe, and disassembling and replacing components as occasion demands.

Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,326 B1 (Aug. 12, 1997)

Patent Literature 2: U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,864 B1 (Feb. 7, 2006)

Patent Literature 3: U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,677 B1 (Apr. 17, 2012)

Patent Literature 4: US 2014-0007479 A1 (Jan. 9, 2014)

Patent Literature 5: US 2009-0071053 A1 (Mar. 19, 2009)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the problem of theabove-mentioned conventional plastic pistol, and an object thereof is toprovide a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, capable ofsecuring the structural soundness of firearms to secure an accuracy rateof bullet even in high-temperature environments, preventing thehigh-temperature heat generated in a barrel or the like from beingtransferred, as it is, to a handle of the frame, and disassembling andreplacing components as occasion demands.

According to an aspect of the invention to achieve the object describedabove, there is provided a frame for a polymeric pistol with a metalrail, a pistol having a slide, the frame including: a lower frame madeof a reinforced plastic material and having a handle formed at its lowerportion; and an upper frame assembled onto the lower frame while beingassembled to the slide and made of a metal material, wherein: the lowerframe includes a first support positioned in front of the handle tosupport a bottom surface of the upper frame, and a second supportpositioned behind the handle to support a rear surface of the upperframe; and the upper frame is assembled to the lower frame such that thebottom and rear surfaces of the upper frame are supported by the firstand second supports, and the upper frame has a front rail and a rearrail that are integrally formed on its upper surface, the front and rearrails being assembled to the slide.

Preferably, the upper frame has a recoil spring installation part formedin front of the front rail and a trigger mechanism housing installationpart formed inside the rear rail.

Preferably, the first support of the lower frame has an insertion holethat is formed at one side thereof to have a predetermined depth and hasa fastening hole formed through the side surface thereof and the secondsupport includes a seating portion that has a horizontal plane tosupport the bottom surface of the upper frame; and the upper frame has afront fixed part formed at the bottom surface thereof such that thefront fixed part is inserted into the insertion hole and a rear fixedpart protruded from the bottom surface thereof and seated to the seatingportion while being inserted into the second support.

Preferably, a pair of side fixing grooves is formed to face each otheralong both sides of the lower frame between the first support and thesecond support of the lower frame, and each of the side fixing grooveshas a length in forward and backward directions; and a pair of insertionprotrusions protrudes downward from the bottom surface of the upperframe so that the insertion protrusions are inserted into the sidefixing grooves.

Preferably, fitting protrusions protrude from one ends of the pair ofside fixing grooves, respectively; and fitting grooves formed at thebottom surface of the upper frame such that the fitting protrusions areinserted into the fitting grooves.

Preferably, a side guide is further formed at a selected one of the pairof side fixing grooves, protrudes upward to be pressed against the outersurface of the upper frame, and serves to guide the position of theupper frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a frame for apolymeric pistol with a metal rail according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an example in whichthe lower and upper frames of FIG. 1 are separated from each other;

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating an example of the lower frameaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating an example of the upper frameaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a side view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a top view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example in which thelower frame is assembled to the upper frame in the frame for a polymericpistol with a metal rail according to an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating a state of use in an example in which aslide is assembled to the frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal railaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described inmore detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention is to provide a frame for a polymeric pistol witha metal rail, capable of securing the structural soundness of firearmsto secure an accuracy rate of bullet even in high-temperatureenvironments, preventing the high-temperature heat generated in a barrelor the like from being transferred, as it is, to a handle of the frame,and disassembling and replacing components as occasion demands. Asillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a frame (2) according to an embodiment ofthe present invention includes a lower frame (10) and an upper frame(20).

The lower frame (10) is made of a reinforced plastic material byinjection molding. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower frame (10)has a handle (11) that allows a user to grip a pistol, and a magazineinsertion hole (with no reference numeral) into which a magazine isinserted through the inside of the handle (11).

The handle (11) has a magazine catch installation hole (11A) formed onthe side surface thereof, and a magazine catch (not shown) is installedin the magazine catch installation hole (11A) so that the magazineinserted into the magazine insertion hole is restricted or therestriction thereof is released.

In addition, the lower frame (10) includes a first support (12) that isformed above and in front of the handle (11) to support the bottomsurface of the upper frame (20) which will be described later. The firstsupport (12) has an insertion hole (12A) that is formed at one sidethereof to have a predetermined depth, and the insertion hole (12A) hasa fastening hole (12A′) formed through the side surface thereof. Thefirst support (12) has a trigger installation hole (12B), which isformed at the other side thereof to vertically pass therethrough, sothat a trigger (not shown) is inserted and installed in the triggerinstallation hole (12B).

Furthermore, the lower frame (10) includes a second support (13) that isformed above and behind the handle (11) to support the rear surface ofthe upper frame (20). The second support (13) includes a seating portion(13A) that has a horizontal plane to support the bottom surface of theupper frame (20).

In addition, the second support (13) has a pin coupling hole (13B)formed through the side surface thereof, and a fixing pin (P) isinserted into the pin coupling hole (13B) to fix a rear fixed part (24)of the upper frame (20) which will be described later.

A pair of side fixing grooves (14) is formed to face each other alongboth sides of the lower frame (10) between the first support (12) andthe second support (13), and each of the side fixing grooves (14) has alength in forward and backward directions. As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and6, fitting protrusions (14A) protrude from one ends of the pair of sidefixing grooves (14), respectively, and they face each other.

In addition, a side guide (14B) is formed at a selected one of the pairof side fixing grooves (14), and the side guide (14B) protrudes upwardto be pressed against the outer surface of the upper frame (20) andserves to guide the position of the upper frame (20) while supportingthe upper frame (20), as illustrated in FIG. 5.

The upper frame (20) is seated on the lower frame (10) having the abovestructure using the first support (12) and the second support (13), anassembly screw (B) is assembled to a nut (N) by passing through thefastening hole (12A′) of the first support (12), and the fixing pin (P)is inserted through the pin coupling hole (13B) of the second support(13). Thus, the lower frame (10) is strongly coupled to the upper frame(20).

Since the lower frame (10) is made of a reinforced plastic material, itis possible to prevent the high-temperature heat generated in theprocess of discharging bullets from being transferred, as it is, to thelower frame (10) through the upper frame (20).

The upper frame (20) made of a metal material is assembled onto thelower frame (10), thereby preventing the easy deformation of the lowerframe (10) due to high-temperature heat by the upper frame (20) whilethe assembly between a plurality of components in the lower frame ismaintained as it is. As a result, it is possible to improve the accuracyrate and reliability of operation of the pistol.

As illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the upper frame (20) is manufactured bycutting a metal material in the form of a rectangular block having alength of the lower frame (10) in the forward and backward directionsthereof. The upper frame (20) has a front rail (21) and a rear rail (22)that are integrally formed at the upper portion thereof, and the frontand rear rails (21) and (22) are assembled to a slide (1) and spaced ata predetermined distance from each other.

The upper frame (20) has a front fixed part (23) protruding downwardfrom the bottom surface thereof by a predetermined length such that thefront fixed part (23) is inserted into the insertion hole (12A) of thefirst support (12). The front fixed part (23) has a through-hole (23A)formed through the side surface thereof, and the through-hole (23A)communicates with the fastening hole (12A′) of the insertion hole (12A).

In addition, the upper frame (20) has a rear fixed part (24) protrudingdownward from the bottom rear thereof such that the rear fixed part (24)is supported by the second support (13) of the lower frame (10) whilebeing inserted into the lower frame (10) by a predetermined depth.

As illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 11, the rear fixed part (24) includes,when it is assembled to the lower frame (10), a first contact portion(24A), which is inclined to form a continuous plane with the innersurface of the magazine insertion hole in the handle (11), and a secondcontact portion (24B), the other surface of which has a vertical lengthso that the second contact portion (24B) is supported by coming intocontact with the inner surface of the second support (13).

The rear fixed part (24) has a pin coupling hole (24C) formed throughthe side surface thereof, and a third contact portion (24D) is formed atthe bottom surface of the upper frame (20), which is adjacent to therear fixed part 24, so that the third contact portion (24D) is seated tothe seating portion (13A) of the second support (13).

In addition, the upper frame (20) has a pair of insertion protrusions(25) protruding downward from the bottom surface thereof so that theinsertion protrusions (25) are inserted into the side fixing grooves(14) of the lower frame (10), as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 9. The pairof insertion protrusions (25) are formed with fitting grooves (25A) intowhich the fitting protrusions (14A) of the lower frame (10) areinserted.

Furthermore, as illustrated in FIG. 10, the upper frame (20) has arecoil spring installation part (26) formed at the upper portionthereof, and the recoil spring installation part (26) has a concavegroove having a predetermined depth for installation of a recoil springassembly in front of the front rail (21). The upper frame (20) has atrigger mechanism housing installation part (27) formed by verticallypenetrating the rear rail (22) and the rear fixed part (24).

A slide lock installation hole (28) is formed through both sides of theupper frame between the front rail (21) and the rear rail (22), and aslide lock (not shown) is installed in the slide lock installation hole(28) so as to be elastically supported by springs.

The upper frame (20) having the above structure is manufactured suchthat the components such as the front rail (21), the rear rail (22), thefront fixed part (23), the rear fixed part (24), the recoil springinstallation part (26), and the trigger mechanism housing installationpart (27) are integrally formed by precisely cutting one metal material.Therefore, it is possible to relatively significantly reduce the gapbetween assembly components, compared to separately forming thesecomponents.

In addition, the upper frame (20) made of a metal material is not easilydeformed even due to high-temperature heat, thereby preventing the gapassembly components from occurring due to heat even in high-temperatureenvironments or at the time of continuous discharge of bullets. As aresult, it is possible to significantly reduce the malfunction orfunctional failure rate of the pistol.

Hereinafter, the method of assembling the lower frame (10) to the upperframe (20) in the frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail havingthe above structure according to an embodiment of the present inventionwill be described.

When the lower frame (10) and the upper frame (20) are assembled to eachother, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 11, the bottom and rear surfaces ofthe upper frame (20) are positioned on and supported by the firstsupport (12) and the second support (13) of the lower frame (10). Then,the front fixed part (23) formed on the bottom surface of the upperframe (20) is inserted into the insertion hole (12A), and the rear fixedpart (24) is inserted into the second support (13) so that the secondand third contact portions (24B and 24D) come into contact with therespective inner surface and seating portion (13A) of the second support(13).

In this case, the fitting protrusions (14A) of the side fixing grooves(14) are fitted into the fitting grooves (25A) of the upper frame (20)while the pair of the insertion protrusions (25) formed on the bottomsurface of the upper frame (20) are inserted into the side fixinggrooves (14). In addition, the lower frame (10) is assembled to theupper frame (20) while the side surface of the upper frame (20) istightly supported by the side guide (14B), thereby allowing the positiontherebetween to be accurately fixed.

In this state, when the assembly screw (B) and the fixing pin (P) arerespectively inserted into the fastening hole (12A′) and the pincoupling hole (13B), the assembly screw (B) and the fixing pin (P) passthrough the through-hole (23A) and the pin coupling hole (24C). Thus,the lower frame (10) is securely pressed against and assembled to theupper frame (20) without the gap therebetween in the forward andbackward directions.

When the lower frame (10) has been assembled to the upper frame (20),typical components such as a trigger, a barrel, a recoil springassembly, and a safety pin are sequentially assembled in the pistol.Then, the assembly of the pistol is completed by assembling the slide(1) to the upper frame using the front and rear rails (21) and (22), asillustrated in FIG. 12.

In accordance with the present invention, a frame is configured byassembling a lower frame made of a reinforced plastic material to anupper frame made of a metal material, thereby preventing the deformationof front and rear rails due to the high-temperature heat generated inthe trigger mechanism, barrier, and the like of a pistol even inhigh-temperature environments.

In the present invention, it is possible to prevent transfer of heatfrom the upper frame to the lower frame and prevent user inconveniencedue to high-temperature heat in using the pistol.

In addition, the present invention is advantageous in that, when it isnecessary to replace one of the components of the lower and upperframes, it is possible to separately replace only the correspondingcomponent.

In addition, when it requires the replacement of any one component ofthe lower frame and the upper frame, it can replace only correspondingcomponent.

Furthermore, since front and rear rails are integrally formed in theupper frame by precisely cutting one metal material in the presentinvention, it is possible to relatively significantly reduce the gapbetween the rail and a slide when they are assembled to each other,compared to an existing rail formed by pressing or bending. As a result,it is possible to improve the accuracy rate of the pistol by reducingunnecessary rocking when the slide slides.

While the present invention has been described with respect to thespecific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat various changes and modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the followingclaims.

1. A frame for a polymeric pistol with a metal rail, a pistol having aslide (1), the frame comprising: a lower frame (10) made of a reinforcedplastic material and having a handle (11) formed at its lower portion;and an upper frame (20) assembled onto the lower frame (10) while beingassembled to the slide (1) and made of a metal material, wherein: thelower frame (10) comprises a first support (12) positioned in front ofthe handle (11) to support a bottom surface of the upper frame (20), anda second support (13) positioned behind the handle (11) to support arear surface of the upper frame (20); and the upper frame (20) isassembled to the lower frame (10) such that the bottom and rear surfacesof the upper frame (20) are supported by the first and second supports(12 and 13), and the upper frame (20) has a front rail (21) and a rearrail (22) that are integrally formed on its upper surface, the front andrear rails (21 and 22) being assembled to the slide (1) wherein thesecond support (13) includes a seating portion (13A) that has ahorizontal plane to support the bottom surface of the upper frame (20),the first support (12) includes an insertion hole (12A) that is formedat one side thereof to have a predetermined depth, and the upper frame(20) has a front fixed part (23) protruding formed at the bottom surfacethereof and a rear fixed part (24) protruded from the bottom surfacethereof, wherein the front fixed part (23) is inserted into theinsertion hole (12A), the rear fixed part (24) is seated to the seatingportion (13A) and has a first pin coupling hole (24C) formed through theside surface thereof, and the second support (13) has second pincoupling holes (13B) formed through the side surface thereof, and afixing pin (P) is inserted into the second pin coupling holes (13B) tofix the rear fixed part (24).
 2. The frame for a polymeric pistol with ametal rail as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper frame (20) has arecoil spring installation part (26) formed in front of the front rail(21) and a trigger mechanism housing installation part (27) formedinside the rear rail (22).
 3. (canceled)
 4. The frame for a polymericpistol with a metal rail as claimed in claim 1, wherein a pair of sidefixing grooves (14) is formed to face each other along both sides of thelower frame (10) between the first support (12) and the second support(13) of the lower frame (10), and each of the side fixing grooves (14)has a length in forward and backward directions; and a pair of insertionprotrusions (25) protrudes downward from the bottom surface of the upperframe (20) so that the insertion protrusions (25) are inserted into theside fixing grooves (14).
 5. The frame for a polymeric pistol with ametal rail as claimed in claim 4, wherein fitting protrusions (14A)protrude from one ends of the pair of side fixing grooves (14),respectively; and fitting grooves (25A) form at the bottom surface ofthe upper frame (20) such that the fitting protrusions (14A) areinserted into the fitting grooves (25A).
 6. The frame for a polymericpistol with a metal rail as claimed in claim 4, wherein a side guide(14B) is formed at a selected one of the pair of side fixing grooves(14), protrudes upward to be pressed against the outer surface of theupper frame (20), and serves to guide the position of the upper frame(20).